Zero Feet Above
by mikokorin
Summary: And I'll find you even if it takes me 70 more years. –Gruvia [Captain America AU]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and Captain America: The First Avenger belongs to Mashima Hiro and Marvel Studios, respectively.**

 **Summary: And someday I'll find you even if it takes me 70 more years. –Gruvia [Captain America AU]**

* * *

Gray felt his heart sink a little as he assessed the situation, his head snapped from the engine monitor and to another screen that blares the words _'ZIEL'_ and _'New York City'_.

Even though he speaks no German, it doesn't take a genius to know that this aircraft was heading for New York.

"This is Captain Fullbuster. I repeat, this is Captain Fullbuster." He contacted the base, attempting to inform them about the current situation. As his eyes roamed to the map showing the aircraft's current location–the Arctic–he swallowed a lump forming in his throat, he was damned if he let this baby crash into New York. He just wished Agent Lockser was here with him, she always knew how to comfort him.

 _I sound like a love-struck puppy,_ Gray tried to chuckle but failed miserably as he thought of a plan to stop the aircraft, there was one that can really _really_ stop the aircraft before it crashes to New York, and it was all Gray could think about while under pressure. *****

"Captain Fullbuster, what is your –"

"Gray-sama?!" Gray felt the corner of his lips twitching at how hysterical she sounded and he imagined her worried look, eyebrows furrowed and her pink lips in an adorable pout.

"Hey, Juvia." Right now, he just wanted to hear her voice because it might be the last time he would hear those. Gray could only hope that it would not.

"W-Where are you? Tell me so that I can find a safe landing site for –"

"There is _no_ safe landing site, Juvia." Gray heard her breath hitch and his eyes once again glazed over the engine monitor, _three down._

"I'm heading for New York. Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere, I can try to force it down." Gray was responded with muffled sobs and he could feel his heart clench at the thought that it was him who made her cry.

At the base, Juvia felt her heart sinking as she understood Gray's implication at trying to force Hydra's aircraft down. _No, no, no._

Col. Jose Porla looked at her with sympathetic eyes before motioning the officer that greeted Gray out of the area before following suit, closing the door with a soft _thump._

"Hey, Juvia," She heard through the speakers of the base. Wiping the tears covering her face, albeit unsuccessfully, she listened to the one she loved to most. "I remember that you said you've never had Caramade Franks before, am I right?"

She shook her head, momentarily forgetting that he was not by her side, and then added in a weak voice, "No. No, I haven't, Gray-sama." She smiled weakly at her own term of endearment. It started as a joke when Gray rescued the four-hundred soldiers trapped at a Hydra base, including his best friend, Lyon. Gray attempted to skydive and ordered Juvia that once he had jumped, the chopper must immediately turn around and get the hell out of there.

Juvia screeched that why is he ordering her while panicking because _holy fuck_ was he trying to skydive with all the bullets flying around. Gray shouted over the explosions that because he was a Captain and it's 'Captain's–fucking–order' before jumping. Since then, Juvia called him 'Gray-sama' out of _respect_ , or so she told him. Gray never understood Japanese language anyway.

"Then –" Gray fumbled the pocket of his uniform, finding the locket containing a cut-out picture of Juvia on a daily newspaper. "– How about this coming Saturday?" Gray felt the smooth exterior of the locket and pulled it out, flipping it open and carefully placed it in front of him.

"Are you –Are you asking me out on a… date?" Juvia choked the last word, just as Gray motioned for the aircraft to plunge down –straight to the iced surface of the Artic.

 _25, 000 feet._

"Yeah… So, how about it?" Gray knew that keeping promises that might be broken are dangerous, but he can't help but hope that he would survive this.

 _23, 000 feet._

Another series of sob was what Gray heard.

 _20, 000 feet._

"… Sure. This Saturday. Nine o'clock, at Loke's Café, They serve Caramade Franks right?" Gray chuckled, glancing at Juvia's smiling face in the photo. "Yeah…"

 _17, 000 feet._

"Don't you dare be late, Gray-sama." Juvia tried her best to give a stern tone to what she said, but failed as another set of tears flowed through her face.

"Well, I always arrive at least 5 minutes late so…" He trailed off.

 _14, 000 feet._

"Just please, _please_ , try to be there, Gray-sama." Juvia tried her best to imagine Gray's face, every outline, every crease, _everything._

"… I will."

 _10, 000 feet._

Gray sees the ground nearing, nearing – _nearing_ – "Stay with me, Juvia?" He whispered, little by little getting anxious and starting to doubt his resolve. _No, no_ he couldn't leave Juvia hanging.

Juvia felt the corners of her lip turning –a sad smile, " _Always._ "

 _7, 000 feet._

A moment of silence reigned between the two, neither wanting the silence yet both feeling anxious as one of them approaches the icy lands of the Artic.

"Juvia, I know I'm not supposed to feel this way yet since our first date is on Saturday, for god's sake, but I just wanted to tell you if ever something happens that I lov –"

Gray's voice was replaced by static.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia's voice quivered, the slight opening of the door going unnoticed as Col. Porla peeked at his surrogate daughter, hearing her defeated voice, the man's eyes flew downwards and back at her.

"Gray, _please_ …"

 _0 feet._

* * *

 ***I decided to add a pun amidst all the Angst: _Gray's under pressure._**

 **Every angst story needs a pun once in a while.**

 _Thank you for reading. -L_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Never did, never will own Marvel and Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Gray passed the serene hallways of the hospital; Makarov Dreyar –head of S.H.I.E.L.D. – had told him the location of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders: Magnolia Hospital, and had advised him to go check it out himself. And today is the day he will find out what _exactly_ did that old man had in store for him.

Well, Gray IS the older man but, still.

Makarov looks way older.

Grasping the doorknob of room 405 (which the female nurse _kindly_ told him once he said "Mr. Dreyar sent me here –"), Gray took a deep breath and turned it in a clockwise motion. Pushing the door open, what greeted Gray was a sight he did not expect.

Lying on the hospital bed beside a table carrying a vase filled with buttercup flowers, was a woman of old age sleeping peacefully. Her silvery white hair flowing down due to gravity as it sprayed across the cream white pillow.

 _Wha..?_

Stepping inside, Gray cautiously looked around. No one was around to explain the sight he is witnessing, Gray stepped forward once – twice, before he heard the sound of the door closing and it had dawned on him that he should have checked on the name plate by the door outside.

Quickly, as if to make sure what was happening is just a joke that was about to reveal itself, Gray stepped outside, clutching open the door and immediately turning to either side to know where the name plate was.

Right. Left.

It took Gray a few seconds to read the name in his mind and completely comprehending it.

Yeah. This has got to be a joke.

Gray looked at the elder woman still sleeping peacefully, then back at the name plate screaming everything he needed to know.

Why Makarov sent him here in the first place.

Rereading the name once last time, as if to make sure that everything was _real_ and not just some fucked-up imagination of his.

 _Juvia Lockser._

As Gray closed the door leading outside, he chuckled. Laughing at the irony that deep inside Gray wanted her to _already_ be six feet beneath the ground – because approaching an old Juvia would meant accepting that he _is_ stuck in an age he wasn't supposed to be in. It would remind him of the things he lost – of the things he _could have_ had.

And he can't stand the fact that Juvia can't be with him.

"Who are you?" the noise he made seemed to wake the sleeping lady. Slowly, but surely, the said woman sat on her hospital bed, glancing at him.

As Gray saw her serene aura, he pondered what would have been if he had grown with her. He would have had the same silvery white hair, and wrinkles in his face, and he would have been sitting in that empty stool beside her bed – peeling apple slices for her to eat.

"Sorry. I've been late for 70 years, Juvia."

There was a flash of recognition in her eyes and then – tears. She smiled even while her eyes were overflowing with waterworks, "… You're very late, Gray-sama."

He walked towards her – noting the tiredness in her voice – only stopping a few inches from her bed, he took in her features, realizing that she had changed so much throughout the years. His eyes softened as they caught the gaze of hers. Of all things that changed in her, her eyes remained the same color as the deep ocean – as serene and caring as he last gazed it.

"… Can I hug you?" Gray blurted it out before even knowing. Even with all the outside changes, Gray was certain that Juvia was still her. Juvia Lockser was still that strict agent that the wimpy Gray Fullbuster knew and Captain Gray Fullbuster loved. And more than anything, he wanted to touch her.

To make up for the past.

But deep inside him, he wanted her to say that he _is_ still that Gray from 70 years ago – that he should make up for the past because _no_ he never missed anything because he was there with her.

He knows he is lying to himself.

But she surprises him – "You never changed, Gray-sama. Still at it with the hugs." She laughed. And oh god, did he miss that laugh.

The first tear fell, then the second.

Then he was crying – he was not bawling nor sobbing, just tears falling from his dark blue eyes because he _loves_ her.

Still does.

Her gaze softened, reaching out her arms to surround the man she had waited for every single day for the past 70 years.

No words were exchanged. Just the warmth from each other as they bask in the present.

And that was enough for them.

.

.

.

They were talking for more than four hours now, catching up with each other.

Not much has happened for Gray, after all, he was still coping with this new environment after 70 years of being froz– sleeping.

But as Juvia told of her ventures, Gray grew proud of her – she was one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the way she talked about the organization with that smile on her face – the more throb Gray got because he _should_ have been there with her.

She surprises him more by joking, "It's a good thing you weren't there, or else Igneel wouldn't have suggested making an organization to cease Hydra in your name."

Then, she stops. Silence reigned for a few minutes. And Gray, confused, called out to her, "Juvia?"

She looked at him, her eyes as confused as his was. "… Who… are you?"

He felt his stomach drop.

Of course, she wouldn't have been in a hospital for _nothing_.

"I- uh, I–"

He was at loss for words.

.

.

.

He didn't give up.

Every day he would go to her – and every day she would forget ever meeting him again.

But he didn't stop.

He knew she never gave up on him ever returning.

And neither will he.

He opens her door, "Hey, Juvia. I brought you Caramade Franks."

She looks at him with those once again void eyes, "… Who?"

And the cycle starts again.

.

.

.

He found his own.

After S.H.I.E.L.D had been out of operation – Gray swore to Juvia and Igneel that he would be the one to continue their legacy, he would stop any threat to everyone's lives.

Then he had found the Avengers.

At first it had been a pain in the ass – especially that son of Igneel, Natsu. Although he had inherited his father's genius in creating inventions and firearms, he apparently hadn't inherited his father's nice temper with Gray. He breaks the rules – stubbornly refuses to acknowledge Gray's decisions and does things on his own.

But still, they made it worth it.

So, when the United Nations wanted to take the Avengers _under_ them, Gray didn't want to. These people _had_ intentions, and he experienced his friends' organization crumble down because of those _intentions_.

But Natsu was fine with it – with _anyone,_ actually. Because as long as they were under control, he was fine with anyone, even with those who had intentions.

Gray had to admit, Natsu was partly correct. But still.

As they argued on and on about what to answer – be under UN control or not and be dismissed from duty – Gray felt his pocket vibrate. Fishing out his phone, he read the message he just received.

His blood ran cold.

He read it once – _twice,_ before it all clicked.

Not even a second past and he was running towards where she was. Everyone was shouting at his back – but Gray didn't care.

He was losing his own home.

And now he lost _her._

.

.

.

 **She's gone.**

 **In her sleep.**

" _Stay with me, Juvia?"_

" _Always."_

* * *

 **apparently, this is what happens when you watch civil war right after reading fairy tail AND rereading your old and awful works.**

 **not beta-ed, sorry for the typos and grammar mistakes!**

 _ **xoxo**_


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